Earl Charles Spencer unveils poignant photo from childhood home the year Princess Diana died

Princess Diana‘s younger brother Earl Charles Spencer is reminiscing about life at their childhood home in Northamptonshire in the 90s. 

Charles took a trip down memory lane on Wednesday evening, sharing an old photo of the swans swimming in a lake on the family’s historic 13,000-acre Althorp Estate in 1997 – the year his sister Diana tragically passed away. 

“The original quartet of Althorp’s black swans, 1997,” Charles captioned the archival picture from the family’s private album, which he posted to Instagram with musician Austin Farwell’s song Ripples in Time playing in the background. 

Last month, Charles revealed he recently introduced four new black swans to the estate’s lake. “I’ve just introduced these four beautiful, young, black swans (two male, two female) to Althorp’s Round Oval Lake,” he captioned a video of the swans looking right at home on the water. “Their plumage will darken as they age.”

“These were a favourite breed, in childhood – so exotic (they are Australian), and gorgeous,” he added.

The Earl said he was “pleased to report that they’ve settled in very happily.”

Althorp’s oval lake

Althorp has been home to the Spencer family for 500 years and was where Diana and her brother Charles spent much of their childhood with their siblings. The property, which Charles inherited when he became the 9th Earl Spencer in 1992, boasts a grand house with over 90 rooms and extensive gardens. 

© Getty Images

Visitors can walk lakeside on the property, where they can pay respects to the late Princess Diana, who was laid to rest on a private memorial island in the middle of the ornamental Oval Lake. The island itself has been kept private and off-limits to the general public, with the family being able to access it by boat. 

Charles shared a stunning photo of the lake taken at sunrise in April, showing off the incredibly tall trees surrounding the body of water. 

© UK Press via Getty Images

Another new addition to Althorp

The swans aren’t the only new addition at Althorp. Charles and his wife, Countess Cat Spencer, recently welcomed a new family member: an adorable puppy!

“Our little family is complete!” Cat shared on Instagram last month alongside a video of a puppy snuggling up to their other dog, Freya.

“Meet baby Phoenix, our new Eurasier who’s a half-sister to Freya,” she continued. “She is @charles.earl.spencer and my wedding present to each other, and we’ve been waiting impatiently for weeks.”